The Vampire Diaries: Corruption In Its Purest Form
by Lucretia Debrev
Summary: Matt, Meredith, Bonnie; Caroline are about to spend the summer in Florence Stefan goes to Florence to prepare a cottage for them. Damon on the other hand is in staying with them in Mystic Falls to see them off. To pass the time Damon tells the four of them that the truth is always written by the winners...Sanger Rainsford is a character in The Most Dangerous Gameby Richard Connell


"And don't-"

"Do anything I'll regret I know, I know. Go to Florence. They'll be fine with me for a day or two, little brother. Get everything organized and they'll fly over. All of them in one piece."

"Just-just don't make a mess of things, ok?"

"How would I make a mess of things?"

"I don't know...you'll find a way to none the less. Good bye."

"Good bye."

Damon went back to the car and drove the boarding house where Bonnie, Meredith, Caroline and Matt were waiting.

"So we're stuck with you?"

"Yes, Caroline you are. Get over it. Stefan will be back in a few days and you can all talk about Florence over the phone. In the mean time...pack."

"I have."

Damon looked over at Bonnie who was starring at him, lost in thought.

"What is it?" Damon asked.

"I was-well...I was wondering if you could tell us about Florence...during the Renaissance."

"What is there to tell? It was...dangerous to have new ideas and beliefs. well they weren't new ideas. They were the ideas of the romans and Greeks, everything was decided by the church. If you said the earth revolved around the sun, you could be killed for defying the word of God and church. I knew the idea weren't new but my father and others didn't. It wasn't practical back then, so I was thrown out of the academy...or rather I left."

"Did you speak Lain or Italian?"

"Both. I loved Latin. Loved the Romans, the best civilization that ever lived...the art in my time...oh the church's murals and paintings they were simply breath taking! The subtly of the women's figure and the alabaster skin. The brown and red locks and rosy cheeks-"

"Wait. Red locks?"

"Yes, red locks, Little Redbird. In paintings, the angels would have red locks, the goddesses of the earth had red locks-and blonde and brown. Red and brown were used more than blonde. Blonde wouldn't have worked anyways. Exceptional maidens had red hair. They were either branded a witch or..."

"Or?"

"In my opinion-"

"Or what?!"

"A she wolf..." Damon muttered wishing he hadn't brought up the topic of hair color in the first place.

"Why?"

"Because red hair was exceptional...it was usually found in Ireland or Scotland, not Italy. And they weren't considered, um, intelligent. "

"And what about black hair?" Bonnie asked sourly.

"Black was never really used. Plebeians had black hair and olive skin. the rich, angels, and gods had alabaster skin. If you had olive skin that meant you worked in the fields and had lowly job. I had darker skin at one point after I dropped out of the academy."

"Why did you drop out?" Meredith asked.

"I-well...my father wanted me to pursue the church. My heart belonged to poetry and painting. My ideas were bold and promiscuous-not just to my father but to Stefan as well. My ideas were radical..."

"Radical?" Caroline asked.

"Yes. The church was just so...confining. It wasn't that I didn't believe in God, I just didn't believe in the church. I was only repeating the words of Socrates and the other genuises before me, it wasn't a new idea! People just didn't want change...stupid bastards."

"You said your skin got darker-how?" Meredith asked.

"I got a job working in the fields. Got the money to go the school I wanted."

"Why was it so dangerous to defy the church?" Bonnie asked, fascinated.

"It didn't matter to me if I wasn't allowed to come back to a church I didn't agree with-it didn't even bother Stefan that much-but my father...what the villagers didn't do to me he did. But that was my problem. The normal problems were people who believed just as strongly as you didn't that the church's word was final. I'm sure the church officials themselves were to blame for some of that." Damon paused, slightly awed by such interest taken over his life in Florence-surprised he had such a story to tell. He had everyone's full attention-even Caroline's.

"What did they do to you?" Matt asked softly.

Damon looked away for a minute, the memories of the pain made him feel uneasy. A fire began to burn at the thought of pain and sacrifice for a cause he would have once given his life for. A fire made of pride and longing, pride for being apart of something grander than himself and longing for something to prove to himself that he wasn't as numb as he felt. He missed the ability to feel 'human happiness' and not be ashamed of it.

"Are you alright?" Meredith asked.

"Hum? Yes, why?"

"It's just that...you're shaking slightly..."

"Am I?" Damon chuckled.

"One night I was walking home from the market and three clergymen dressed in street clothes mugged me. I stumbled home and...my father thought I was drunk. He, in fact was drunk. He'd always been violent-took all of his rage out on me-hit me over the head with a bottle, knocked me out..."

"You mean you didn't fight back?" Caroline seemed more surprised than rude.

"I was used to him taking out is anger and grief over my mother's death on me. There was nothing I could do, even as an adult-he had the money, the land, the power...Besides, I sometimes regretted not becoming a vicar, doing something different with my life. So when he got violent or cruel I took it as a sort of penance. I realized I couldn't go back even if I wanted to, everyone knew me-knew I truly believed in the cause I was fighting for."

"I couldn't just hit him back not when he was the master of the house. it would only make me look foolish, not him..."

"But how is penance? I mean yes when you had your cause but before you did-did he-" Meredith

"Yes." Damon answered curtly.

"So why did you put up with it then?" Caroline asked.

Damon was silent for a long time, unsure of what to say. No one had ever asked him these sort of questions before...

"That was penance for everything else. The church was corrupt when it was supposed to be pure. You get over the beautiful architecture and paintings, look past the smiles and lies and you'll see things haven't changed since then. Politicians here are just as bad as the church was then, they offer you wine and assure you that God will forgive all your sins for price. Now a days, the politicians just say what their offering is free. Nothing is free, everything comes with a price. You don't have to live five hundred years to see that..."

Everyone jumped and looked away when the answering machine went off.

"THIS IS A TOLL FREE CALL FOR-"

Everyone began to laugh...

"FOR _Damon Salvatore_-"

Everyone stopped laughing and looked at Damon...

_"Hey, Damon. It's been a long time. I was wondering if you wanted to go jaguar hunting with me in Rio? To get around diplomatic stuff you'll have to use an alias: Sanger Rainsford. Call me and tell me if you in. Bye." _

"Who's Whitney?"

"An old friend I used to go hunting with. Guess I'll have something to keep me busy after all..."

Another message on the answering machine: "Everything's fine in Florence, getting everything ready only took a few hours so I'll be back by 10."

Everyone looked at the clock, just as they did they heard the door downstairs open. It was 10 p.m. They'd been listening to Damon's story for nearly three hours.

"You all ready to go?" Stefan asked as he walked in.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked, noticing how quiet everyone was.

"Nothing, Damon was just...telling us about Florence. He said it'd be fantastic-right Damon?" Meredith said.

"Right, exactly. Florence will be great, have a great time their and if anyone needs me I'll be jaguar hunting in Rio."

"Oh Whitney called? How is the _butcher_?" Stefan asked sarcastically. Damon noticed that Matt, Meredith, Bonnie, and Caroline were glaring at Stefan. Damon never thought he'd be able to win humans' respect by telling the truth (at least he never considered it).

_Why did I tell them about Giuseppe? What provoked that? I can't believe I was so weak-no, not weak. I can't believe I was so truthful. _

"Still hunting. Night all."

_"Forget what I told you about my father, forget the truth about Florence. Its for the best that no one knows. Matt, Meredith, Bonnie, Caroline, forget what I've told you and go have a great time in Florence. Come back to Mystic Falls with happy hearts when you think about the brilliance of life, of humanity...and never be ashamed to express yourselves. Never, ever, stay silent when their are causes to be kindled and wars to be fought, paintings and books just waiting to be put to paper..." _

Stefan noticed the amount of power that seemed to suffocate the air. He knew it was Damon's power but it had never been so strong, so...emotional?

_"Damon what have you done? Are you compelling them?" _

_"Yes." _

_"Why-stop!" _

_"Too late, Stefan." _

_"Stefan-you haven't called me Stefan in years, it's always been 'Little Brother'...What is it, what's wrong?" _

_"I told them what Florence was like-and then some. Things I haven't told anyone, not you, things Katherine could never know even if she tried to torture it out of me...I let myself slip." _

_"Slip? You mean you let them see what you used to be?" _

_"'What I used to be' how oddly you put it. Yes, Stefan. What I used to be. I told them about the art, the architecture-" _

_"Why would you compell them to forget that?" _

_"I also told them about the church." _

_"I see. You didn't 'slip' Damon, you showed-" _

_"Weakness."_

_"Humanity." _

_"What's done is done, Little Brother_. _They'll be fooled. Don't act all high mighty because we both know you don't want the humans to know you always sided with our father, you sided with him for status and money...Even if it cost me my sanity, night after night taking Giuseppe's wrath." _

_"Don't be so dramatic, had we not tried to silence your beliefs you would've been beheaded!" _

_"At least i would've died with honor-for a cause I believed in-instead of in duel for a cold shrew!"_

_"So you would've rather died than be a vampire?" _

_"You have no idea what I suffered. You will never know." _

_"He bruised you once or twice, so what?" _

_"So what?! It wasn't bruising and it wasn't once or twice, Stefan! The years you were away, it was constant and never ending..." _

_"I don't believe that." _

_"Well you don't have to, little brother. Go to hell." _

Damon forced his brother out of his mind, stormed out of Mystic Falls, and bought a one way ticket Rio. Damon felt his ears pop and felt himself leave ground.

"Amontillado sir?"

"I believe I will madame."

Damon could smell the familiar, tantalizing drink. His smile faded away as the flight attendant handed him the drink. The _drink_. He hated alcohol. Damon vowed would never let it control him like it did his father. The girl bent down (blonde hair, milky white skin, shy...) to hand him his drink and she smiled (chapped, raw, lips-covered with a thin layer of lipstick to hide the-) and placed the drink in his hand.

Damon took a swig of his drink...

"You're bleeding." Damon observed.

...and flipped the switch.


End file.
